Wand Creation
Components Though the size may vary in design, wands, staves and rods all have three essential elements: the Shaft, the Crest and the Eye. ''The Shaft: The shaft is simply the body of the wand/staff/rod itself. Commonly the shaft is made from wood though it has been made from stone, non-ferrous metal or bone for the truly rare items. In fact, most Tower wizards (those of lesser means than the wealthy Court Wizards) begin their study with a length of rare wood for their staff as it's usually the only thing that they can afford. Rare woods such as Blackwood , Brightwood or Bronzewood have been known to withstand the surge of arcane energy longer and are sought for such resiliance. The Eye: Once the wizard has been able to find an gem or semi-precious, crystalline stone to serve as the eye of their staff, they must find some means to attach the Eye to the Shaft. It is this attachment that is called the Crest. Depending on the spell that is to be placed within the Eye and the amount of mana that is intended to be stored within it, the Eye must be large enough to accomodate the energy. The Gnomes of Gizad created a classification system to measure the approximate size of the gem stone required based on the amount of mana to be stored within it. A gem, then, is categorized as to its size, the maximum mana that it can hold, the maximum spell level (including enchantment) it can hold and the maximum number of spells within its matrix. Certain gem stones are more attuned to storing arcane energy than others. To reflect this, each stone is given a Mana Raiting. The mana raiting of a given stone is equal to the bonus size category that it can store and channel safely. A stone with a Mana Raiting of +1 would able to store and channel mana of one size category greater than its original size. Therefore, a 1/8th inch stone with +1 would be able to store 6 points of mana, not just 3. Eyes that are larger than a size-9 gem are so uncommon that they are unique. There is no category for them though one could consider them to be a size-10 gem. The Crest: The crest can come in a myriad of forms - from a dragon's head to a clenched fist or even a human skull - but they each serve the purpose of anchoring the Eye to the Shaft. In more advanced staves, the crest is forged out of a precious metal (gold, silver, etc.) but this need not be the case. A staff's crest may simply be a twist or a curl in the wood of the shaft to grasp the Eye. As most Tower wizards begin their staff with a hunk of a tree found from the forest, their crest is simply a pleasing form that they've manipulated within the wood. It is for this reason that many a wizard has learned the beginning spell "Shape Wood". 'Arcane Energy and Heat' Though it is possible to store arcane energy in raw crystals, the process by which one infuses the energy into the gem causes it to heat up. Releasing or drawing energy from the crystal also creates heat. Depending on the amount infused or withdrawn the amount of heat generated can cause severe burns to anyone who would hold it. For this reason the gem is housed within a conductive material to keep the user from being hardm. Each material used for the crest has a '''Mana Resiliance Raiting' that reflects how well the material is able to conduct arcane energy without being damaged. Should too much mana be channeled through it the material will be damaged and, in some cases, be destroyed. This damage is usually reflected as heat damage and may look as though its become scorched as though placed in a fire. When the crest's material has exceeded its resiliance it begins to take damage just like any other material. Resiliance is then similiar to the material's Hardness. Each object has hardness—a number that represents how well it resists damage. Whenever an object takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is deducted from the object’s hit points. Once the material is at half of its hit points it will no longer be able to house the energy being channeled through the Eye and will cause harm to the user. For example: A wooden Crest has a Resiliance of 2 and 4 hit points. So long as the user does not withdraw (or cast) more than two points of mana from the gem at any one point (round) the crest doesn't take damage. If they meet that Resiliance's limit the material will begin to heat up. If they exceed it then the material begins to degrade taking one point in damage for each point in mana consumed. In a given round, if three points of mana are drawn from the gem and the resilance is 2, then one point of damage is inflicted upon the material; leaving it scorched. If an additional point of damage is inflicted, by drawing more mana, the material is considered Damaged and will cause one point in heat damage to the user's hands (unless otherwise protected) for each point of mana withdrawn after that point. Assuming that the wizard continues to draw mana through the gem, another point of damage is inflicted upon the material of the crest reducing its hit points to one, causing another point of heat damage to the user and visible signs of damage will become apparent; cracking, splitting, etc. Should the damage continue and the material lose its last hit point, the crest will break, cause another point of heat damage to the user and drop the Eye to the ground. A damaged, but not destroyed crest/shaft can be repaired or replaced as needed and assuming the skills and materials are available. 'Creation' Once the user has selected #The spell(s) to be imprinted, #The amount of mana to be stored, #The Gem (Eye) required to meet their needs and resources #The material for the Crest #The material for the Shaft It must be created as a Masterwork Item. The spell(s) can not be imprinted nor the mana stored until it is a complete item. 'Enchanting' To imprint the spell upon the item, the caster will first need to cast the spell of whatever level it is and then funnel magic into it to solidify it. ''Steps'' #Channel energy (3 points) into the object to attune it. #Cast the spell on the object twice. (1 point per level of spell) #Channel additional magic to add 'charges' within it so that it can be cast. (2 points per charge) Technically, once the spell has been solidified upon the item, it has one charge. If the wand is used without additional charges, it will loose the spell and the entire process must be repeated. When changing the spell that is 'imprinted' upon the wand the process must also be repeated once the last charge is cast of the previous spell. Category:Enchanted Item